7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE WINTER OF OUR DISCOTHEQUE=THE PERFECT BEACH READ, April 18, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: The Winter of Our Discotheque (Hardcover)
The cover of this book is what first grabbed my attention but what was between the cover is what really kept me glued to my chair. This was one of the best books I've read in a long time. In one word, this book is FUN! It doesn't take itself seriously and it provides a good time. I'm recommending WINTER to all my friends!
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Something to wake up for, April 23, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: The Winter of Our Discotheque (Hardcover)
I brought "Winter" on vacation with me because I loved the title so much, and I was captured immediately by the beautifully written first line. Although I'm at a point in my life where I often fall asleep reading a few pages, this book kept me up until midnight--and I got up at 6 am the next morning to finish it! The story is well-paced, absorbing and evocative of the 70s; the characters are totally believable and sympathetic; and the subtle word play is witty and hilarious. Often when I read first novels I find myself getting sort of anxious on behalf of the novelist, but in this case I was completely confident that the author wouldn't betray my trust. I was rewarded with a great, satisfying read and the only thing I regret is that I no longer have the anticipation of discovering the pleasure this book gave me.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Smart, sexy, hilarious, April 22, 2002
This review is from: The Winter of Our Discotheque (Hardcover)
Any novel that takes as its title an allusion to one of Shakespeare's most famous lines is making a promise to readers that may be impossible to keep, but this book delivers, admirably, on almost all counts. Intelligent and darkly funny, it is an engaging and fast-paced (sometimes breathlessly so) summer read that ultimately is far more satisfying than most books in its genre. At the heart of its well-developed, fully realized cast of characters are Tony Alexamenos, a young surfer whose beauty proves to be as much a curse as a blessing, and Dallas Eden, the obese, scheming, but ultimately benevolent Machiavelli, who is instantly besotted with him and transforms him from a grease monkey at his father's gas station into a pioneering superstar male model, though at considerable emotional cost. Tony's lovers include an aging child prodigy, a thoroughly evil athlete/dancer, and a married, disabled Vietnam veteran and father of twin boys. These characters drive the story until the last 100 or so pages, when the complex plot really kicks in and pulls the reader relentlessly forward to a terrifying climax and an ultimately poignant resolution.
But there is more than just character and plot to this book. The author creates a world in which the reader can live and get lost in. The descriptions of Florida (where I live) and New York City locations are vivid and sensual (in that they arouse many senses, including sight, sound, even smell). The period detail (the 1970s) and the cultural context (references to such things as Patty Hearst's kidnapping, the Vietnam war, and the comatose Karen Ann Quinlan) seem accurate and well researched. (The icing on the cake is the cameo appearances of movie and TV stars from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, who are friends of Dallas, who is a comedian and B-movie star: among them Bob Hope, Barbara Billingsley (Beaver Cleaver's mom), and the entire cast of Gilligan's Island! There is a scene between Liberace and Sonny Bono you'll never forget.)
There also are plenty of hot, hot men, and lots of romance and sex (though not really explicit stuff).
If anything, this book may be a little too ambitious in its scope. It covers ten years, during which Tony is transformed from poor white trash to a wealthy and sophisticated male model. He also starts out naïve and ends up pretty worldly, maybe even jaded. Sometimes these transitions seem a little rushed, and there are a couple of places where the events of six months or a year are compressed into a sentence or two. The author gives us "road signs" to explain these things, and it's not really confusing, just a bit disconcerting at times. My advice to readers is to slow down and savor the details of plot and character.
It may sound like a cliché, but this is one of those books I didn't want to end, even though, as I said, I raced to the finish to see how it turned out.
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